


All That Remains

by WinterSky101



Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Antiquing, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-18
Updated: 2014-02-18
Packaged: 2018-01-12 22:04:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1202230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinterSky101/pseuds/WinterSky101
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Magnus liked old things. After spending a day antiquing with him, Alec thought he understood why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All That Remains

Alec could not believe Magnus wanted to go  _antiquing_.

"But  _why_?" he found himself asking for the third time as he and Magnus proceeded to drive to some antique store that Magnus claimed was "adorable."

"It's fun!" Magnus replied, shrugging.

The car jerked to a stop in front of a red light. Alec took a moment to catch his breath before answering. "How is antiquing fun?" he retorted. "You go to some shop to look at old stuff, buy some of it for horribly inflated prices, and end up having more clutter that you don't need."

"You're a little ray of sunshine, aren't you?" Magnus muttered under his breath.

Alec huffed. "But honestly, Magnus. I just don't understand. If you want to look at old things, why not go to a museum?"

"Would you prefer that?" Magnus asked, taking a turn at a much faster speed than he probably should have. Alec found himself praying to the Angel that he would survive the ride. "I love museums too. We could go to the Met or something."

"Okay, not that the Met isn't cool, because it is, but why do you have this obsession with old things?" Alec asked. Any aggression or sarcasm that might have been coloring his voice before was gone, leaving only pure curiosity behind.

"I'm old myself, Alec," Magnus replied with a deep sigh. "And most things in my past aren't things I can hold on to. Places change, things get lost...people die." Alec felt as if a cold hand was wrapped around his heart with the last bit. "All I have left are memories and, occasionally, little mementos."

"I didn't realize," Alec whispered. It made sense, suddenly, why Magnus would cling to any bits of the past that he could find. "I'm sorry."

"No need to be," Magnus replied, waving a nonchalant hand. Alec was suddenly struck by a wish for Magnus to keep both hands on the wheel. "It's difficult to understand if you haven't gone through it."

"And I won't," Alec added.

Magnus sighed. "Alec, must we bring that up?"

"Sorry." Magnus hated talking about how Alec was going to die someday while Magnus would continue to endure. That's how he always put it. Not live, not survive, not keep going. Endure.

"Do you have any pictures of you that I could see?" Alec asked. "Old pictures?"

"Why do you want to see them?" Magnus asked.

Alec shrugged. "It might be fun. Some of them might be embarrassing."

"Of course you want embarrassing photos," Magnus groaned.

Alec laughed. "Hey, my mom showed you baby pictures. I doubt you have anything that embarrassing."

Magnus laughed. "You were a cute baby."

"You're terrible," Alec retorted. "No one wants their boyfriend to see their baby pictures."

"But you were so  _cute_!" Magnus protested. "Besides, it's not as if I've never seen you in compromising positions."

"You've put me in compromising positions," Alec muttered.

Magnus laughed. "Quite right," he replied, taking a turn at the last possible second and throwing Alec into the door. "I've got lots of pictures at home." Magnus's eyes saddened. "That's all that remains of some of my friends."

"Someday, the same will go for me," Alec murmured.

Magnus looked over at him. "Does that bother you?"

"A little," Alec replied honestly. "I want to be more to you than a photo."

"Oh, but you are," Magnus assured him.

"Will I be in a hundred years?" Alec asked.

Magnus nods. "The pictures are the only tangible things I have, but they're far from all I have. I have memories, Alec. If I commit someone to memory, then I will not forget them. I'm eight hundred years old, and I still remember my parents. I won't ever forget you."

"Do you promise?" Alec asked in a small voice.

Magnus nodded as he parked the car in the most ridiculous way Alec had ever seen. If not for the fact that Magnus was a warlock, Alec would have been afraid they'd get a ticket or die in a crash or something else related to Magnus's insane driving, but magic tended to prevent stuff like that.

"This is the place?" Alec asked, gesturing at the little shop they had parked in front of.

Magnus nodded. "Yes. Come on in!" Magnus practically dragged Alec inside the shop, where a bell cheerfully announced their presence.

"Magnus!" a voice called. An elderly woman was walking towards them with a wide smile. "How lovely to see you again!"

"Miss Dora! Lovely as always," Magnus replied, embracing the woman gently. "Alec, this is Miss Isadora Burnan, the owner of this shop. Miss Dora, this is my Alec."

"Oh, so you're the young man Magnus has been talking about?" Miss Dora asked, smiling at Alec. "It's lovely to finally meet you."

"Magnus talks about me?" Alec asked, looking at his boyfriend.

Magnus shrugged. "I have a wonderful boyfriend. You can't expect me  _not_  to talk about you."

Alec blushed. Miss Dora laughed. "Magnus, you're embarrassing the poor boy! Leave him alone."

"Alec knows I love him," Magnus quipped. Alec buried his bright-red face in his hands. He still wasn't used to the blasé declarations of affection that Magnus liked to throw around and they still embarrassed him every time.

"Magnus!" Miss Dora scolded again, shaking her head. "The poor boy. You've teased him quite enough. Why don't you go look around? Maybe Alec will find something that strikes his fancy."

"In a shop as wonderful as yours, it's impossible not to," Magnus replied.

Miss Dora shook her head, but she was smiling widely. "Stop flattering an old woman and spend some time with your young man, Magnus," she scolded, shooing them off. Magnus laughed as he took Alec's hand and pulled him into the depths of the shop.

"She seems nice," Alec offered once they were out of earshot of Miss Dora.

"She is," Magnus replied. "She's lovely. But she doesn't know anything about what I am, so don't say anything. She just thinks I love antiques."

"What about your eyes?" Alec asked, curious.

"What about them?" Magnus replied, smirking slightly.

"You use a glamour?" Alec guessed.

Magnus nodded. "I can't exactly let her see them as they are. I suppose I could say they're contact lenses, but I don't know how well that'd go over. I had enough trouble convincing Miss Dora that, no matter how crazy my clothes are, I'm still honestly interested in antiques."

Alec chuckled softly. "So do you buy stuff from here often?"

Magnus nodded. "I do. To tell the truth..." He looked around and dropped his voice. "Business isn't going too well. I've been coming around more often to help try and keep the place afloat."

"Does being High Warlock really pay that much?" Alec asked.

Magnus shrugged. "Well, in and of itself, it doesn't pay at all. But people know, since I'm the High Warlock, that I'm the best. That's why the Clave always comes to me, even though I don't charge for most Shadowhunter things now. But Downworlders also know that I'm their best option, so I get the richer clients that, thus, pay more. I'm in a good financial place right now. I've been in some pretty bad ones, but this is more than enough for me to get along on." Alec wondered what bad financial situations Magnus had been in. He didn't like the thought.

"I thought High Warlock meant you got paid from some warlock hierarchy or something," Alec admitted.

Magnus grinned and shook his head. "There isn't much of a warlock hierarchy. There are regular warlocks and High Warlocks, who are just the most powerful warlock in their area. I'm the most powerful warlock in Brooklyn, so I'm a High Warlock. In times of war or when we need a singular leader, the most powerful High Warlock is given the term Head Warlock and put in charge, but that doesn't happen much. Last time was, um..." Magnus furrowed his brow in thought. "I want to say the last time it happened was the mid-twentieth century, but I might be remembering wrong."

"Who's the most powerful High Warlock right now?" Alec asked curiously.

Magnus shrugged. "No clue. I normally stay out of that drama. It's probably not me, so I don't really care." Scolding words were at the tip of Alec's tongue -  _You should care, this is important_  - but he held them back. "I can ask someone," Magnus added. "Another High Warlock. They might know."

Alec just shrugged in response. He'd like to know, but he knew Magnus didn't get along well with many of his fellow warlocks, partially because of all the help he gave Alec and the other Shadowhunters. Magnus didn't relish talking to most other warlocks, and Alec couldn't blame him. If it wasn't something important, he wouldn't ask him to.

"So, do you see anything you like?" Magnus asked to change the subject, holding his arms outstretched.

"You," Alec quipped, giving Magnus a quick kiss on the lips.

Magnus rolled his eyes. "I meant any  _antiques_  you like," he protested.

Alec shrugged. "You're probably older than anything in here, so..."

"Oh, you're hopeless," Magnus groaned, but he wasn't very good at hiding his smile. "Come on, be serious."

"Alright, fine," Alec conceded. "Let's look around."

"Alright. Come on." Magnus took Alec's hand and dragged him off to look around the shop. Alec smiled as he followed Magnus around. The shop was full of little curios that looked like some of the ones that were scattered around Magnus's house.

"Wait," Alec said suddenly, grabbing Magnus's arm. "I like that."

"You would," Magnus replied with a grin. The thing Alec was pointing to was a small figurine of a cat, with big green-gold eyes that looked just like Magnus's did. "Very well." Magnus picked up the figurine and brought it over to the counter.

"Did you two find something nice?" Miss Dora asked, smiling widely.

Magnus beamed back. "Yes. Alec found this cat figurine that he simply must have."

"Well, that's nice." Miss Dora smiled and checked the price on the bottom of the figurine. Magnus already had the money ready and passed it over to her before she even said the number aloud.

"Thank you, Magnus, dear." Miss Dora patted Magnus's cheek. "You are sweet."

"I'll be back soon, Miss Dora," Magnus replied. He and Alec left the shop hand-in-hand. Surreptitiously, Alec tried to check what the price for the cat figurine was, worried it was higher than he felt comfortable with, but before he got a chance, Magnus snapped once and the sticker disappeared, as if it had never been there.

"How much was it?" Alec asked.

Magnus shrugged. "Nothing I wasn't willing to pay."

Alec forced himself to be okay with that. "Thank you."

"No problem, darling." Magnus leaned over and kissed Alec gently on the lips.

Before they got in the car, Alec took off his sweatshirt and wrapped the cat figurine up in it. He didn't want anything happening to it on the drive, just in case, someday, that was all that remained of his relationship with Magnus. Magnus didn't want to forget, and Alec didn't want to let him.

**Author's Note:**

> My writing tumblr is [here](http://winterskywrites.tumblr.com/), if you're interested.


End file.
